St. Louis has long had a rich cultural heritage, from Grand Center Arts District gems like The Fabulous Fox Theatre and Pulitzer Arts Foundation museum to the iconic Gateway Arch, now gleaming after a $380 million makeover this year. The city’s culinary scene is blowing up, too, with chefs like Ben Grupe and Ashley Shelton earning recent James Beard noms. Until now, though, the hotel scene hasn’t kept pace. With the Nov. 1 opening of Angad Arts Hotel, that has changed.

“What is art but seeing the world in a different way?” asks Steve Smith, co-founder and CEO of Lawrence Group, the local architecture firm that owns and operates the 146-room boutique property. With that mantra in mind, the design of the hotel, located in the 1922 Missouri Theater building, is at once striking, eclectic and amusing.

Each high-ceilinged guest room, designed by a local artist, is themed around a color to elicit a specific emotion: green for rejuvenation, red for passion, yellow for happiness and blue for tranquility. Whimsical details—think stand-alone bathtubs with matching rubber ducks and throw pillows that look like eyes—are complemented by luxury amenities like Molton Brown bath products and high-end linens. The two-bedroom, 2.5-bath Grand Suite features a kitchenette, white velvet robes, pillow top beds and views of the Arch, as well as a Himalayan salt lamp, said to help improve sleep.

In contrast to the guest rooms, common spaces at Angad Arts are muted save for interactive, rotating art exhibits. Inventive cuisine like “clothesline bacon” can be found at Grand Tavern by David Burke downstairs, and 13 floors up, the property is topped off with the partially enclosed Angad Rainbow Terrace, one of only a few rooftop bars in St. Louis. Playful experiences throughout (even a display wall of musical instruments that can be taken down and played) make the hotel fit in with the artsy area in which it’s located—yet it marches very much to its own tune. “Every nook and cranny is truly filled with surprise, delight and joy,” says Smith. “If Angad Arts Hotel was a luxury car, it would be one that no one has ever driven before.” Two-bedroom Grand Suite from $1,450 per night, 3550 Samuel Shepard Drive